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...Because virtually the only cells that divide in the brain are tumor cells, the retroviruses infected them alone, inserting the herpes gene into their nuclei. As this gene expressed itself, it made the tumor cells sensitive to the herpes drug ganciclovir. When the drug was then administered to the patient, says Anderson, it "made the tumor cells commit suicide." But here there were troublesome side effects...
...heart-patient trial, St. Elizabeth's Isner found a novel way around the delivery problem. Eschewing virus carriers, he fashioned a construct called "naked DNA." It consists of part of a human gene called VEG-F, which stimulates the growth of blood vessels, and includes its signal segments. These segments, Isner explains, "order the cell, once it has manufactured the gene product, to export it from the cell...
Once the strands are complete, the gene chip is ready for use. You take a sample of blood from a patient who has just developed a raging HIV infection. Various genes in his immune system are churning out millions of RNA molecules that will assemble the proteins needed to combat the infection. You extract the RNA and break it into pieces, tag each piece with a fluorescent chemical and pour the whole mess over the gene chip. The RNA tightly binds only to its exact DNA complement on the chip. The fluorescent tag tells you where on the chip...
Pitchforks? Nowadays we use guns. A so-called gene gun using gold bullets has become one of the standard methods for rewriting nature's codes. Pellets coated with DNA are fired into the chromosomes of a plant that biotech engineers wish to alter in some amazing way. Then, after patient cultivation to bring out the inserted trait, a prodigy is born. The transformed crop may be corn or cotton with a built-in insecticide, tomatoes that retain their fresh-picked texture on the shelf, or wheat with extra gluten, making for lighter, bouncier bread. The new crop of doctors...
...technique does not have to be limited to infectious diseases, however. It may even be useful for conditions such as Type I diabetes, in which a patient's own immune system destroys essential insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. For diabetics, eating insulin-bearing tubers could eventually train the body's defenses to stop reacting to insulin as if it were a foreign material, all without the bother--or risk--of a needle. --By Alice Park...